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For the Museum of Modern Art—the institution more responsible than any other for the development of American design in the last century—every show about objects, graphics, and the way we interact with them is charged with special import. So, what meaning, exactly, are we to extract from the just-debuted exhibition Pirouette: Turning Points in Design?

Apparently, that’s up to us. “I didn’t want to preach,” said curator Paola Antonelli, speaking at the preview event last week. “I want each work to stand by itself.” To that end, the longtime fixture of the museum’s Department of Architecture and Design has placed each of the roughly 125 pieces in the show—ranging from Post-it notes, to a 1930s stationary hair dryer, to a large drawing of the “@” symbol—in discrete enclosures, most of them hidden in a warren of crimson veils. Guided only by wall text and interrupted by the occasional interactive installation (notably a pair of old-fashioned View-Master stereoscopes), the public is invited to guess for themselves how each item represents “an enzyme necessary to our evolution,” as the show’s prologue puts it, pointing us towards new and varied social futures.

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Tim Ferguson Sauder, Brian Glenney, Sara Hendren. Accessible Icon. 2009-2011. The Museum of Modern Art, New York (1), Nifemi Marcus-Bello. For the Community by the Community – Handwashing Station. 2020. The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2). Photo by Kadara Enyeasi (2).

As a pedagogical method, this is a pleasantly Montessorian approach, and some of the toys on offer do look like a lot of fun. For the contemporary furniture fan, playthings include Gaetano Pesci’s 1984 Pratt chair and Droog Design’s You Can’t Lay Down Your Memory dresser; for fashion freaks, there’s a Telfar shopping bag and Richard Malone’s Jumpsuit Specimen. There are even a few political provocations, most notably the Gay Pride flag and Mine Kafon’s giant, dandelion-like anti-landmine device. In a climate where even the most anodyne appeals for inclusion and peace suddenly seem so aberrant, Antonelli’s game feels like a surprisingly brave one. 

Installation views of Pirouette: Turning Points in Design at the Museum of Modern Art. Photos by Jonathan Dorado

Pirouette is all the more daring for its open-endedness, though this is also a potential weakness.  When MoMA re-opened in its current configuration in 2019, following its expansion by Diller Scofidio & Renfro, there was some gnashing of teeth in design circles as the new layout appeared to disperse the department’s collection and reduce potential space for dedicated exhibitions. The senior curator has responded with a series of interesting shows, spotlighting her attempt to broaden the purview of the institution—and presumably its audience—by putting the everyday, the ephemeral, and the commercial under the intellectual spotlight. The jar of M&Ms; the Spanx; the white plastic Monoblock chair: the turning points upon which so much of Pirouette appears to revolve are an extension of that curatorial project and show how far Antonelli is prepared to go with it. Whether museumgoers understand where she’s headed is another question.

Pirouette: Turning Points in Design is on view at MoMA through October 18.